{craft hope: beanies & bags}

check out my post over here on craft hope.  this one should be fun!

{how pinterest saved Christmas}

i have always tried to make at least some of the Christmas gifts we give each year.  creating and working with my hands is something i really enjoy doing, but don't find time for nearly often enough.  (unless you count laundry and dishes as working with my hands.)  the holidays always seem like the perfect opportunity.

here's the thing though.  i am really not creative in my own right.  i copy others ideas really well and often tweak them to make them my own.  i just don't always come up with alot of *new* ideas.  we'll call this my disclaimer.

enter pinterest...

i have shared my loved of pinterest here, but let me just say, seriously, it made coming up with gift ideas SO MUCH easier.  here is the board i made with ideas of advent conspiracy gift ideas.

here are a few of my favorites: (links are to original posts & instructions)

these wooden spoons  were so much fun to make for the grandparents.  (i should have had the kids make some for me too!)  aiden and miles drew the designs and mike burned them in with a woodburner.  this would be great for mother's day as well.

these hex nut bracelets for my niece turned out better than i expected...really cute!  kind of a more grown-up take on a friendship bracelet.  if you have a hard time finding "ball chain", check the electrical aisle.  it's what pull chains for lights are made from.  ;) 

image via design dazzle

owen and i had a great time making these bird feeders for grandparents, teachers, etc.  they were super fast and he could do alot of this alongside me (measuring, stirring, picking the shape of the cookie cutter, cutting the twine, pressing the seed in, etc.)

image via apartment therapy

i didin't get a picture of this, but i made something similiar with six hearts for my mom and jer.  i cut up an old atlas and used the locations of their homes, cabin, cities where the kids and their parents live for my hearts.  (note: buy your frame first and plan your hearts accordingly.  i didn't do this and was then stuck a bit on frame size.  no good.)

image via bluemoss girls

and since i had already cut up the atlas...ha!  i made something similiar to this for my in-laws.  i just backstitched the route between boston and madison and added hearts around the city names.  (if you end up doing something similiar, i would recommed pre-poking the stitch holes since you only get one shot at getting your needle/thread in the right place.)

i typically make an ornament each year as well.  this year we made a few.

the kids had fun making these handprint snowmen that i saw on meg's blog last year.  we used washi japanese masking tape from etsy for the scarves and hats.  the boys used blue and green ornaments for theirs.

these trees are from here via pinterest.  the kids and i took a walk at the forest preserve to collect the sticks.  they easily cut to size with tree loppers.  the kids then painted the sticks and mike drilled all the holes.  these were a bit labor intensive, but fun.  aiden's teacher got one with her birdfeeders!

and last...my favorite.  i was inspired by this image.

Palomas nest

i loved the simplicity of the design and love how great white ornaments look on a dark green tree. 

this is what i came up with.

they also worked as gift tags on our presents

i used sculpey polymer clay from michaels and rolled it out on parchment paper.  the clay is really hard so this was a bit of a workout.  i used snowflake cookie cutters to cut out shapes and then used a toothpick to punch a hole at the top for a hanger.  i got alphabet rubber stamps from the $1 bin at michaels and added the kids names or words like "noel".  then just follow the instructions on the package to bake them.  on some i used the wire ornament hangers and on some i used bakers twine. 

variations of these might also be cute for valentine's day.  i could see using clay in other colors and making knock off conversation hearts.  you could also easily glue a magnet on back.  i just may have to add that to the to-do list.  ;)

{my IKEA Rast hack}

mike has been asking for a night stand for awhile now.  it seems about time since we have both resorted to dumping things that should go in the night stand on the ironing board.  (yeah...i think that thing is actually supposed to come down when not in use.)  anyway...

i jumped on the IKEA Rast hack bandwagon and came up with matching tables for us.  although maybe not initially my first choice, the $29.99 price is really hard to resist, the storage is great and the creative options are endless.

here are a couple of the images i found inspiring as i decided how to tackle ours.

via aubrey & lindsay

from left on amelia via urgan grace

i decided to paint our drawers BM super white and then do a color wash of BM duxbury grey.  i went with the colorwash option for a couple reasons: i had the paint already, but not enough for two dressers, i liked the transparency of it...a bit of grain shows through but not too much, and it helped hide the flaws of being ikea pine...mainly lots of knots and fingerjoints.  i put one coat of white glaze over the top, polyacrylic and waxed the white door fronts and am happy with how it turned it.  it has alot more depth than just a solid coat of paint would have had.  kind of driftwood like. 

i went with the same lee valley hardware as the inspiration pics.  i really liked it and didn't feel the need to get creative just to be different.  i like how the circles play off our coverlet.

here are some more of my favorite hacks.  these would be awesome in kids' rooms!

via pinterest

via knack studios

via designsponge on pinterest

now i need to come up with a paint color for the walls to go with~

{chippy chair makeover}

i scored this chair awhile back at the auction house for $5.  technically, it was $2.50 for (2) chairs, but the other one wasn't worth taking.  a good price regardless.

post sanding pic

i thought this was a great chair to add to the playroon for the kids work table.  i think it is probably an old library or courtroom chair, but with some fun, curvy lines to it. we have two chairs up there now that i also got at the auction, but that still leaves one kid on the floor.

so...after a coat of green paint and a whole lot of distressing, i am loving the character of the finish.  the original poly had an alligator finish in some places and was pretty worn.  i only lightly sanded this piece before painting in hopes of keeping some of the texture and then finished it off with a coat of clear wax.

(let's just pretend there aren't huge hunks out of the blue wall.  what the heck!)

love me a quick, cheapo makeover!

{inspiration by pinterest}

have you tried pinterest?  it is such a fun, easy way to keep track of inspirational images!  while i still love to keep tear sheets from magazines and catalogs, this has greatly increased the "pool" from which to draw from...blogs, ezines (online magazines), other people's "pins", etc. seriously addicting!

a while back i "pinned" this image onto my party ideas board. 

recently, it was the last day of work for one of aiden's teachers who was moving away.  i wanted to make her cupcakes a little more special and thought i would give this a go.  (remembering the pin at 10pm and amazingly having everything here at home to pull it off!)

i used bbq skewers, some jersey fabric i cut up from a too small shirt, some bakers twine from some gift wrap, white cardstock and a circle punch.

you can find the directions here for making your own ruffled penant.

so back to pinterest...

here is one of my "boards".  boards are places you can keep a collection of "pins".  this one is my kitchen inspiration board.

and here's what a "pin" looks like.  this one is from my paint inspiration board.

and one of the best parts is, pinterest keep track of the source of the picture.  so, when you want to go back and find where it came from, it's easy peasy.

ooh...and you can follow other people's boards and "repin" their pictures. 

you can see my boards here, or request and invite to join here. 

seriously...so fun! 

{spend.save.share}

one of the things we hope to instill in our children from a young age is fiscal responsibility.  we want to model for them the value of money, how and what it is used for, and what a spirit of generosity looks like. 

recently, we made separate banks for their categories of spend, save & share.  the idea is that when they receive money, they immediately divide it up into each bank based on agreed upon percentages.  this makes it very easy for our kids to know what they can spend on treats or gifts, what they need to save, and they need to at a minimum share with others through their tithe and other generosity opportunities at school, etc.

we started with simple upcycled pasta sauce jars. i labeled each jar and painted the lids with primer and then chalkboard paint. by using chalkboard paint, the kids can keep a tally on the jar lid of how much money they have.

after i had started ours, i found these with a tutorial. so cute and creative for boys!

image via smile and wave

and this one is a favorite too.  love the added pictures!

(image photographer unknown)

{craft hope}

“Craft Hope is a love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those who need them.  It is our hope to combine our love for crafting and desire to help others into a project to make a difference around the world.” From the Craft Hope website

we are always on the lookout for ways to teach our children about compassion, social justice and love for all, in age appropriate and relevant ways.  craft hope is making this easy with project 12: orphan outreach.  through projects like this, craft hope seeks to empower a generation to change the future.   project 12 is about making bracelets to give to orphans living in a crisis center in Leningrad as a way to tangibly show them His love. 

this sunday at REUNION, the elementary kids made these bracelets to send on to orphan outreach.  they did an awesome job and we are encouraging them to make more at home with their own families.

it's just bracelets.  i can make bracelets, my kids can make bracelets.  such an easy thing to do that could really bring a smile to another child's face halfway around the world.

owen was posing with the bracelets and wanted me to take a pic of the bracelets "and his muscles!"

any kind of bracelets are accepted.  for some gorgeous pics of jersey fabric bracelets, see these images from ashley ann.  we are making some of these too and they are so fun and quick.

check out the details via the link about for deadlines and such and get busy creating!

{pretty + simple}

the west elm catalog came today and there was something on about every other page that i was loving!   maybe it was the snow that fell today (hello...it's april...what the heck?!)  i am anxious for spring and the freshness that comes with it.

and there were also a few things i would love to try and make "knock off's" of...

plain white sheets for aiden's room with ruffle detail (minus the monogram.)  maybe i can make that out of jersey so that there is no need to hem the ruffles. so sweet!

gotta find me an antique block for printing these with fabric paint.

and maybe these for easter.  festive, simple, but not too cheesy...perfect!

we planted wheat grass last year and the kids loved seeing how much it had grown each day.  this one is a for sure bet!

{heart attack}

i am a room mom for aiden's class and always on the hunt for fun gift ideas to show our appreciation to our kids' teachers.  i am LOVING these valentine's day ideas on one charming party
via little lovely.  so many creative ideas if you are having a valentine's party (which i am not...but kinda wish i was!)

i am absolutely gonna steal borrow the *heart attack* idea.  You have the kids write something kind about their teacher on a heart and then tape them all to the door, desk, etc. just trying to decide if it would be cuter to have the kids hang their own valentine's (handing out tape as the kids enter the building), or collecting the hearts in advance and making a garland to hang inside the class like this. 

guess i'll have to see how far in advance i have my act together!

{a favorite Christmas gift}

Aiden worked on this gift for months...literally.  her class started it back in sept and she was so excited to give it to us (sweetly wrapped in homemade stamped wrapping paper!)  we will proudly hang it in the kitchen.  i'll have to remember this idea for next year when advent conspiracy rolls around and we are looking for gifts to make for family.

a few of my fav months...

and that sweet first grade handwriting...love it!